Tag Archives: Alex Salmond

European Union, Government, Politics, Scotland

Scottish Government’s white paper on an independent Scotland published…

SCOTLAND

The Scottish Government’s white paper that runs to 670 pages is an insight into what an independent Scotland will look like. The Referendum for Scottish independence will be held in September 2014.

The Scottish Government’s white paper that runs to 670 pages is an insight into what an independent Scotland will look like. The Referendum for Scottish independence will be held in September 2014.

For all the pro-Unionist harping, it could never have been expected that, for all its length, the independence white paper could provide clear, definitive answers on many key issues including the status of our membership of the European Union.

Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond, like many of us, will be convinced that the EU would wish for a resource abundant independent Scotland to be a member. The assertion that Scotland should continue to be regarded as still being within the EU while negotiations are held on the terms and conditions of our membership as a separate state are pointedly correct, though Unionists will probably play hard and fast with the notion that conviction and assertion are not the same as hard and fast constitutional fact. Yet, the United Kingdom itself has no written constitution.

Mr Salmond’s assertions have also been challenged by comments last week from the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy,  to the effect that, if a ‘region’ opted to leave a member state, it would ‘remain outside the European Union’. It would then, he added, require the agreement of all 28 EU members before it was allowed to join. Scotland, however, is not a mere extension or region of England but a country in its own right. Mr Rajoy has missed the point completely, though he may have been speaking bluntly and loudly enough for Catalan nationalists to hear what he was implying. Whether he speaks with the authority of the Treaty of the European Union (TEU) behind him is highly debateable.

Of course, numerous voices have been raised and will continue to be raised in support of the premise that a region choosing to secede from a member state automatically ceases to be part of the EU. Consider the comments made by José Manual Barroso, the president of the European Commission, or Romano Prodi, his predecessor, to the effect that a secessional territory ‘would no longer be a member.’ Or the unequivocal statement, too, from Viviane Reding, commissioner in charge of justice and vice-president of the Commission, who wrote to the Spanish government last year insisting that… ‘Catalonia, if seceded from Spain, could not remain in the European Union as a separate member’.

But, according to Articles 49 and 50 of the TEU, the EU Commission has no say in who ceases to be a member or becomes a member. This is a matter that is entirely left to the European Council and the European Parliament. The First Minister might invoke Article 48 of the TEU which provides for treaty amendment in the event of the council failing to unanimously agree, though any such change would still require agreement ‘by common accord on the part of the representatives of the governments of the member states’. Here, Spain may invoke its right to exercise a veto. None of this immediately precludes Scotland becoming a full EU member, but it is a hurdle Mr Salmond will need to clear if Scotland is to retain full EU membership rights if negotiating after a Yes vote following next September’s referendum on whether Scotland should become an independent country.

Unionists have been knocked down a peg too when it comes to the other thorny issue of a currency union. Bank of England governor Mark Carney says he would welcome the opportunity to hold talks with the Scottish Government. Mr Carney is the only person within the British establishment thus far that has had the decency to admit such dialogue should take place. Other than Pound Sterling being as much Scottish as it is England’s apparent inalienable right to continue using sterling after Scottish independence, Mr Salmond’s government should accept this opportunity with alacrity and get round a table with Mr Carney and officials from the Bank of England.

– The writer seeks an independent Scotland

Get your hands on a copy of Scotland’s Future:

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European Union, Government, Politics, Scotland

Scottish independence and the other five unions…

FIRST MINISTER OF SCOTLAND PROVIDES CLARITY ON INDEPENDENCE

The First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, has said that a separate Scotland would abandon only one of its ‘six unions’ on gaining independence.

Mr Salmond said only the historic ‘political union’ between Scotland and the rest of the UK would be destroyed by a Yes vote in next year’s referendum on Scottish independence.

The First Minister of Scotland made clear that five other unions would remain intact: the ‘currency union’, membership of the European Union, a defence union through NATO, the Union of the Crowns and a ‘social union between the people of these isles’.

Mr Salmond has already tried to allay Scottish voters’ fears by promising to keep the Queen as Head of State, to continue use pound sterling as the currency in Scotland, and to share welfare services with England following a referendum victory.

The SNP leader also gave a pledge that an independent Scotland could remain part of a United Kingdom because the term first came into use before the 1707 Act of Union.

Those who oppose Scottish independence have claimed that the speech delivered by the First Minister signals a shift in SNP policy towards ‘independence lite’. They also say that Mr Salmond cannot guarantee EU and NATO membership as Scotland would have to apply and enter into tough negotiations. Unionists are also promoting the view that it would be highly unlikely that Westminster would agree to a pound-sterling ‘currency union’. This, despite the fact that pound sterling is as much Scottish as it is English, and, how would Scotland be expected to pay its fair share of the national debt if a pound-sterling currency union did not prevail?

The SNP leader’s speech, in Nigg in Easter Ross, last Friday, marked the start of a summer tour that will see Mr Salmond taking the case for independence to the Scottish people.

In his speech, Mr Salmond said:

… We must address and fundamentally change the political and economic union as a matter of urgency. This political union is only one of six unions that govern our lives today in Scotland – and the case for independence is fundamentally a democratic one.

… A vote for independence next year will address the democratic deficit which sees policies like the punitive Bedroom Tax, the renewal of Trident or Royal Mail privatisation imposed on Scotland against the wishes of Scotland’s democratically elected representatives.

… But that will still leave five other unions intact. We will embrace those other unions while using the powers of independence to renew and improve them.

Mr Salmond said a ‘social union’ would still unite ‘all the peoples of these islands… People will still change jobs and move from Dundee to Dublin, or from Manchester to Glasgow. With independence, we will continue to share ties of language, culture, trade, family and friendship.

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Government, Politics, Scotland

Police Scotland: ‘Computer revamp hits £45m’…

SCOTLAND’s unitary police force is facing a fresh crisis after it emerged that the budget for a crime-fighting computer project has almost quadrupled to £45 million.

Earlier this year it was disclosed that Police Scotland is using eight separate IT databases from the former regional system.

The systems, though, are incompatible with each other, despite the merger of Scottish Police forces into a single force on April 1.

This has led to warnings that criminals may escape detection because of poor sharing of intelligence.

At First Minister’s Questions, yesterday, at Holyrood in Edinburgh, Alex Salmond said the cost of replacing the police computer network is estimated to be £45 million over a decade.

The Scottish Government had originally estimated that integrating the systems of the old eight forces would initially cost £12 million over three years.

Lewis Macdonald, the justice spokesman for Labour, said that public faith is dwindling fast following one calamity after another for the new police service.

It has been revealed that police have been privately briefing for two years that integration would cost £45 million. The Scottish Police Authority (SPA), the body set up to oversee the new force, made the revelation. The true figure was only made public yesterday at First Minister’s Questions.

Information and communications technology (ICT) integration has been described as Police Scotland’s priority but critics fear the Scottish Parliament’s scrutiny of ICT has been downgraded following the resignation of three senior SPA executives, events that have prompted claims of a leadership crisis.

Mr Salmond insists the resignations ‘will have no impact’ on ICT integration because the SPA’s chief information officer remains in post. The First Minister said the ‘proposal for the acquisition of the single ICT system to cover recording, management, analysis of data and crime, vulnerable persons, criminal justice and custody, missing persons and property is a major advance’.

The First Minister added:

… Discussions with the SPA indicate the estimated total cost of £45 million over ten years is affordable within their existing budget.

Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) have previously heard the present ‘hamfisted’ IT network still relies on outdated floppy discs, does not comply with police regulations and leave officers open to criticism if a prisoner dies in custody.

South Scotland Labour MSP Graeme Pearson, a member of Holyrood’s justice committee, said:

… This is the first time this number has been brought to light and brings to a conclusion the ambiguity that has existed up to now about the cost and the likely way forward for the service; £12 million was the Government’s guess and it was obviously an unreasonable figure.

Mr Pearson also said that a highly publicised ‘turf war’ between Police Scotland and the SPA over division of power at the top of the new service has been resolved. He added:

… Many of the major government issues have been reallocated so that Police Scotland will be in charge of human resources, finance and corporate services… The SPA will do what it was designed to do: utilise governance and accountability by watching the way the service delivers according to the strategy. Until now, the SPA deemed it would be responsible for all support staff, all ICT, be the accountable officers for finance and human resources and so forth.

Holyrood’s justice sub-committee on policing will question SPA chairman Vic Emery and Police Scotland chief constable Sir Stephen House on the SPA resignations. That meeting will take place next Thursday. An SPA spokesman said the papers for the next SPA meeting on Wednesday would include details of the revised ICT strategy.

The SPA further added that the £12 million was only a theoretical figure that existed in a Government document. It says there is ‘no ring-fenced sum’ in its capital budget purely for technology.

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